Beauty. Fashion. Lifestyle.
Archive for December, 2014
January Sales Haul
0
4 years
Hi everyone!
I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas. Mine was spent at home with family, which is just how I like it.
After a few days of relaxing, and purposefully avoiding the first crazy days of the sales, I spent yesterday and today doing a bit of shopping. Luckily the shops weren’t too busy, and though I didn’t go mad, I managed to get quite a few items that I’m really pleased with. Here are most of them…
Primark Biker Jacket – Was £23.00, Paid £10.00
Primark Dressing Gown – Was £12.00, Paid £5.00
George Penguin Fleece – Was £16.00, Paid £8.00
Primark Black Bag – Was £6.00, Paid £3.00
Primark Green Bag – Was £6.00, Paid £3.00
New Look Boots – Was £27.99, Paid £14.00
New Look Shoes – Was £11.99, Paid £4.00
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7″ – Was £139.99, Paid £79.00
I bought a few other things in the sales which aren’t pictured, including a pair of gloves for £2.00, some Christmas decorations reduced from £3.00 to £1.00, a diary for £1.99 (down from £7.00) and a Vax hoover for £45.00, reduced from about £70.00. I also bought a couple of non-sale items too, namely a top and a case for my new tablet.
In total, I made a huge saving of around £90.00 in the sales this year, made all the better by the fact that a few items were paid for using vouchers that I got for Christmas.
What did you get in the sales?
Naomi x
Christmas Swap Box with +10 Kapow
1
4 years
by Naomi in Swaps
I absolutely love putting together gift boxes for people, and of course I love surprises myself, so a little while ago I suggested to Chrissie of +10 Kapow that we do a Christmas Swap, and luckily she was up for the idea! We decided on a budget of £20, and agreed to fill a shoebox with little gifts that we thought the other would like. I had a lot of fun searching for items to give to Chrissie, and after a few weeks of browsing, buying and wrapping, the box was ready to send. Our deadline for posting was 5th December, and last week we each received our box of goodies!
As both of us are impatient we decided to open and blog about our gifts before Christmas, so without further ado, here’s what I received!
As you can see, my swap from Chrissie came beautifully packaged. The box itself is stunning, and puts the cardboard one I sent her to shame! I’ll definitely be using it to store things in, probably rings or nail varnishes.
There were eight wrapped gifts in the box, including a jewellery box which I was really excited about. I hurriedly unwrapped everything, and was delighted with all that Chrissie sent. I must say she chose well! Here’s what I got…
The first gift is this Baked Merged Trio Eyeshadow from MUA, in shade ‘Emotions’. All three shades have a slight shimmer to them, and are impressively pigmented. The neutral tones are perfect for a daytime look, and I can see myself using these shades a lot for a work make up look, although with some dramatic eyeliner they could easily be dressed up.
My lips get very dry at this time of year, so finding this Nivea Lip Butter in the box was much appreciated! The lip butter feels lovely and nourishing, and smells amazing too, like vanilla and macadamia. This has now become a winter essential for me and comes everywhere with me.
I spotted this Body Shop Glazed Apple Body Butter when browsing The Body Shop website a few weeks, and was really intrigued by it, so as you can imagine I was pleased to find this in the box too! I use body butters on a daily basis and have done for years, so this was very well chosen, and is incredibly moisturising. The Glazed Apple scent is lovely too – fruity, but also sweet and creamy.
Yet another product that I’ve been wanting to try – MUA Luxe Velvet Lips! This shade is called ‘Serene’, and is a dark peach shade with a pink undertone. It’s very highly pigmented, has a creamy texture so applies beautifully, and is long-lasting. I like it, and aesthetically, I also like the frosted tube.
This awesome keyring is triple awesome – it’s Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which I’ve loved since I was a kid, he’s a rat, and it’s lego! I’m going to hang this from my bag because I’m cool like that. Isn’t he fab?!
Chrissie made this galaxy necklace herself, and it’s my favourite item that she sent me. It’s really well made, and purple, pink and turquoise happen to be my favourite colours. I’ve been wearing it a lot since I got it, sometimes alone, but also layered with a couple of my other favourite necklaces, which I think looks great on a plain top.
Batman! A Batman ring! I’m sure it’s clear by now that I’m a big Batman fan, and this ring is absolutely fab. I really like how subtle it is, whilst also being super cool.
This pretty galaxy scarf has the same colour palette as the necklace Chrissie made, and is so soft and snuggly and warm. I’ve been wearing this lately to add a splash of colour to some of my darker winter outfits, and it seems to attract compliments!
Purple shades and holo effects are two of my favourite things to decorate my nails with, so this nail polish from Freckles Polish is perfect for me. The shade is called ‘I’ll Need Wine’, and is a rich purple colour, a bit like red wine, with a beautiful holo shimmer. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of me wearing it, but it applies nicely and is stunning on – fabulous for the festive season. Chrissie recently sent me some stamping plates too, so I plan on creating some looks soon using them and this polish, which I’ll be posting about soon.
I’m really happy with everything Chrissie sent me (thanks Chrissie!), and I hope we can do another swap one day! To see what I sent Chrissie in return, you can check out her post here.
Have you taken part in any Christmas swaps this year? If so, what did you send/receive? I’d love to see your posts about it!
Naomi x
What I Wore: Rat Fan
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4 years
Have you ever found an item of clothing that is just so perfect it could’ve been made with you in mind? Well for me, this t shirt is one of those items. I love rats, I love Batman, I love black clothing, so what better than a black ‘Rat Fan’, Batman-style t shirt?!
ratsratsrats Rat Fan T Shirt / Primark Long Black Cardigan / Blue Rags Black Ornate Embroidered Trousers / Dr Martens Lauren Boots
I bought this t shirt for £14.99 from an online store called ratsratsrats, which specialises in rat-themed clothing, accessories and gifts. I’ve ordered a couple of t shirts from them now and I’m always really impressed with the quality. The fabric is really soft and comfortable, the fit is great and the print is always high quality. I also like the length of ratsratsrats tees as they sit below the hip, which I prefer.
I teamed the t shirt with my favourite winter cardigan, and a pair of Blue Rags black embroidered trousers, which are so warm and comfy. They’re also patterned with a beautiful embroidery-style damask, which you can see clearer on the red pair I styled here. My Dr Martens Lauren Boots make an appearance too, of course.
This outfit is pretty much my go-to outfit for cosy, lazy weekend days, and is perfect for nipping out to the shops, or slouching around the house in.
Naomi x
Christmas Gift Guide: The Book of Everyone
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4 years
Over the next couple of weeks I will be writing a series of posts as part of my annual Christmas Gift Guide, and today’s post will be the first in the series.
I always put a lot of thought into finding the right gift for everyone that I buy for, and I try to find something that’s a bit different to your bog standard gift set. There are several book lovers in my family, and this year on my hunt for unusual book-related gifts, I found something that is perfect for book lovers of any age. Though to be honest, this gift is so nostalgic and personal it’d be suitable for just about any of your loved ones…
The Book of Everyone is a 50 page book full of beautiful artwork, interesting statistics, and fun facts, that can be personalised to be about anyone and everyone! I was kindly sent a copy personalised to be about me, and every single page is gorgeous to look at, but also exciting and fascinating to read, as it all relates to my life. I feel like I learnt so much about my own history when reading the book, for example, in May 1989 I spent 30 minutes as a single cell, and in ‘my day’ a litre of petrol only cost 40p! I was also the 5,414,171,296th person alive on the planet when I was born. Amazing.
Creating the book is simple. It’s all done on The Book of Everyone website, and all you have to know about the person you’re creating for is their name, gender, and date of birth. The rest is done for you! Although you can change the text on some of the pages, add photos, and change the colour of the cover, just to make it that little bit more special and unique.
The book also suits any budget, as it’s available in four different formats. A digital PDF version costs £7.50, a softcover edition is £19.50, a standard hardback is £29.50, and a deluxe edition costs £49.50.
One of my favourite things about this gift is the fact that The Book of Everyone is collaborating with the charity Age UK, and every purchase from their site will go towards gifting a book to an elderly person this Christmas, who may not otherwise receive a gift. A lovely idea that I’m happy to get behind.
Books take just a few minutes to create, and are dispatched within 5 working days, so there’s still time to order before Christmas. Who would you buy The Book of Everyone for?
Naomi x
*The Book of Naomi was sent to me for review purposes. All opinions expressed are honest and my own.*
